A motion to historically designate the former home of one of Windsor’s most prominent 20th-century figures was defeated by the majority of councillors Monday, paving the way for its demolition by the University of Windsor.

“It’s a house, it’s not the person,” Ward 2 Coun. John Elliott said, referring to the deteriorating stucco house on Sunset Avenue that was once the home of Judge Bruce J.S. Macdonald, but is now known as Iona College. The university took possession of the 1924 home in 2016 with plans to tear it down and turn the property into a parkette.

Elliott expressed concern that if the university couldn’t go ahead with its plan, it would sell it to an absentee landlord who would fill it up with students and contribute to the current urban blight in the west end. “It’s a mess,” he said.